Mornin' walk. Jail.

G'Day,
It is just a few days until Christmas. I think I have all the prezzies ready. Just the fresh food to go. I am going to leave that until the last moment because I want seafood. Though, I am not looking forward to tackling the Christmas shopping, last minute crowd in Wagga, to go and get it.
I have been busy and tired for the last week or so, and yesterday I had a catch up on my rest type of day. So, this morning I woke early and couldn't go back to sleep from 4.30 onwards. I gave up about 5.30 and got up and had something to eat before taking Rufus for a walk. I took him up along the golf course. It was beautiful at that time of the morning with the dew still on the grass and all of the birds out for their early morning feed. I was a bit nervous about snakes so I kept Rufus well away from the gully and rough areas around the granite boulders up there. There are lots of snakes up there, it is safer to go there in the winter. But all was well. Rufus was very well behaved today for me. He stayed off the lead most of the time except when we were near the road, and came back when he was called and didn't stray too far. He did find a rabbit to chase though. And I got him a nice big cicada to play with, which he really enjoyed. I saw lots of Galahs, top knot pigeons, minors, wattle birds and red rump parrots. There were a lot of baby Galahs around, making that funny noise they make when they want to be fed. They seem to still get fed by their parents for quite a while after they have learnt to fly.
Canberra is still on the agenda and on my mind a lot. Pete has submitted his application, so here's hoping. I have been spending some time looking at real estate sites on the puter, renting costs are pretty terrible compared to this area but I guess they would be on a par with the other cities. For a house you are looking at $400 and upwards per week, depending on the area etc. I have been thinking that maybe it would be more cost effective to sell our house here and buy there. Even though the prices there are high it would be better that giving our money to some one else. Also if we rent his house out it most likely wouldn't get looked after and deteriorate therefore loose value. I don't know, maybe I am jumping ahead, we don't even know yet if the job application will be accepted. I guess I should explain.... The jail in Canberra is only new, opened less than a year and it is the first in the state, before that crims were sent to N.S.W. jails. They are new to the game and have been trying to attract experienced workers for it. Pete has been working in the industry for over 10 years and has his certificate 4 in correctional management and is working as a supervisor, he also had a few stints working as correctional manager of operations so I reckon he has a good chance. Canberra is in the A.C.T. (Australian Capital Territory) it is about 3 hrs drive from here and Australia's smallest state, where all the govt. stuff is run from. Canberra is a fairly new place, inland, in south east aust. Small compared to cities in other parts of the world, and carefully designed not just grown around the centre of the C.B.D. The jail there is govt run, not private like the one here in Junee, so it has better working conditions and pay.
We are having a wet summer this year. I don't know if we are out of the drought but for the last few weeks we have been getting a nice lot of rain, above average for this time of year. The weather man says we are in a La Nina cycle. Ti's good. Closer to the coast they have had a lot more than us. There is not a lot of grass around yet but it is starting to grow and as the rain has come so has the weather cooled down and been kinder to my garden than it would otherwise be this time of the year. The temperatures have been in the mid twenties each day, very pleasant. Most of the flowers are gone by now normally, but with the rain I still have some nice ones around the yard. In flower now I have day lillies, geraniums, roses, viola, snapdragons, fushia, gladiolis, margurite daisies and the black panther agapanthus that hasn't flowered for me before is in bud, plus other stuff I can't think of at the moment.
One thing I have noticed about Canberra is they don't go in for a lot of gardens. What is there, is mostly environmentally responsible drought tolerant native type gardening. I will miss my garden here and have to redefine my ideas if I move there.
My cat boo is enjoying the christmas tree, like she did last year, she attacks the ornaments and bites them. I have also caught Rufus sneaking the christmas baubles and playing with them, he chewed one of them up, not good for the digestion. I better go rescue the tiy knitted christmas stocking off the cat before she kills it.
Bye. Love Linda.